Coast Guardsman convicted in general court-martial

Oct 5th, 2013 · Comments Off on Coast Guardsman convicted in general court-martial

JUNEAU, Alaska — A Coast Guardsman charged with attempting to commit sexual abuse of a child, failure to obey a lawful order, indecent conduct with a child and possession of child pornography was sentenced by a military judge to seven years confinement, a bad conduct discharge, total forfeitures of all pay and allowances and reduction in pay grade to E-1. The general court martial was held Friday at the Coast Guard’s Seventeenth District Headquarters in Juneau.

Coast Guard Fireman Apprentice Christopher S. Cooley pled guilty at the general court martial to various violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice as follows: three violations of Article 80 for attempting to commit sexual abuse of a child and attempting to engage in indecent conduct with a child; one violation of Article 92, failure to obey a lawful order for contacting a child after being ordered not to; and one specification of Article 134, possession of child pornography which was of a nature to bring discredit upon the service and prejudicial to good order and discipline.

In accordance with a pre-trial agreement, confinement beyond 50 months will be suspended. Cooley will serve his sentence at Naval Consolidated Brig Miramar, in Miramar, Calif.

Cooley was assigned to a Coast Guard cutter in Alaska at the time the offenses were first discovered. Cooley was in pretrial confinement before the trial commenced because he posed a creditable threat to the community.

Courts-martial are the criminal courts established by Congress in the UCMJ to try criminal charges against active duty military personnel. Additional information about the courts-martial system can be found at: http://www.uscg.mil/legal/mj/MJ_Doc/mcm2012.pdf.